The present invention relates to a vehicle seat assembly constructed to facilitate recycling of the seat components after use and in particular, to a twin frame structure for a vehicle seat assembly with a minimum number of fasteners to facilitate both the assembly as well as the disassembly of the seat for reclaiming the components of the seat assembly for recycling purposes.
To reduce the negative environmental impact of motor vehicles, a greater emphasis is being placed on the recyclability of vehicle components as well as increasing the use of recycled materials in motor vehicles. In addition, an increasing number of regulations are being passed which mandate the recycled content in motor vehicles and mandate that vehicle manufacturers accept the return of a vehicle at the end of its useful life for dismantling of the vehicle and reuse or recycling of an increasingly higher percentage of the vehicle's components.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a seat structure that is designed to improve the ability to dismantle the seat assembly to reclaim or reuse the seat components. To provide more environmentally friendly vehicles, it is necessary to reduce the number of materials, components, fasteners, etc. in the seat assembly to reduce the quantity of components and the number of different materials to separate at the end of the product life cycle. Current seat frames, for example, are designed at the component level. Each component, hoop, lumbar mechanism, reclining mechanism, etc., is designed to do a particular job but only one job. There are no or few "multi-tasking" pieces that serve multiple functions. Each piece has its own fastener system. In addition, the individual pieces may be made of several different types of materials. By reducing the total number of material types, components and fasteners, dismantling of the seat assembly is made easier and therefore less costly. The less it costs to dismantle the seat assembly, the greater the economic incentive to do so.
Reuse of seat components without alteration is the best form of recycling since it eliminates energy and manufacturing costs. If a component cannot be reused in its original form, the next best form of recycling is to reclaim it. This introduces the component to a process that alters its form, making it suitable as a raw material, such as a regrinding plastic or melting metals. This is a desirable practice in that it reuses all of the material in a new component. Ideally, none of the material ends up in the landfill or incinerator.
If a seat or seat component cannot be reused or reclaimed, it is ultimately shredded. Afterwards, ferrous metals are pulled out by magnet and other materials are separated by gravity with the remainder being sent to a landfill or incinerated. With the current seat designs, the majority of the seat is sent to the shredder with the rest of the vehicle interior and ends up in a landfill as automotive shredder residue.
The seat assembly of the present invention makes significant steps toward improving the recyclability by reducing the number of components in the seat assembly. This directly facilitates the dismantling of the seat after its useful life. In addition, the number of different types of materials is also reduced to aid in the dismantling and ultimate dispersal of the individual components. The materials used in the seat assembly are preferably chosen so that materials can be easily reused or reclaimed as opposed to materials that must be shredded.
The seat assembly of the present invention is of a typical configuration having a generally horizontal seat bottom and a generally upright seat back extending upwardly at the rear of the seat bottom. A seat bottom assembly includes a frame having two parts, an upper and lower part, both of which are preferably U-shaped or rectangular. Other frame configurations may be used as desired by the seat designer. A suspension panel is attached to the lower part of the frame and spans between the frame side and cross members. A resilient pad is placed upon the suspension member and is then covered with a trim cover. The upper part of the frame is then attached to the lower part of the frame, sandwiching the periphery of the suspension panel and the trim cover therebetween to mount the suspension panel, pad and trim cover to the frame. The frame lower part and upper part are each formed as a single component and include inter-locking features that join the upper and lower frame members together. At the rear end of the two parts of the seat bottom frame, a pivot pin is used to attach the frame parts together.
The seat back is formed of a similar twin frame structure having a frame with a front part and a rear part which sandwiches the seat back suspension panel, resilient pad and trim cover therebetween. At its lower end the seat back frame is joined together by the same pivot pin joining the seat bottom frame parts. In addition, the recliner mechanism operates through the pivot pin as well such that the pivot pin also serves to mount the seat back to the seat bottom. The seat bottom frame is attached to slide tracks which are attached to a vehicle body enabling the seat bottom and seat back to be adjusted fore and aft within the motor vehicle.
The twin frame is a multi-tasking part in that it includes its own fastening features to attach the twin frame parts to one another and also to retain the suspension panel and trim cover to the frame. Thus no separate fastening components are required. The same is true of the twin frame parts in the seat back. Ideally, the frame components, if they have not been damaged during the useful life of the vehicle, i.e. involved in vehicle collision, would be reused in their original form in a new seat assembly. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the resilient pad is made of 100% polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fiber which can be easily reclaimed as opposed to currently used polyurethane which cannot be reclaimed. The trim cover can also be made of PET cloth. Neither the trim cover nor the pad have embedded wires or Velcro fasteners that make it difficult to separate the components by material types. The trim cover is not glued to the pad either which prohibits easy removal of the trim cover. The suspension panels can be molded plastic panels made of virgin or recycled materials and can be recycled after use.
Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.